Guilty Nightmares
by Castryn Kavitai
Summary: Claudia has a nightmare and Artie tries his best to comfort her and make things better. Takes place shortly after "We All Fall Down" as I felt there were many emotions between Claudia and Artie that were left unresolved. Cute/Fluff one-shot. Relationship is left up to reader's imagination.


Artie heaved a sigh as he unlocked the door and entered the B&B. Ever since the incident from the fallout of the astrolabe he had been avoiding this place like the plague, not wanting to dwell on thoughts of Leena as they only made his heart ache more and his self-loathing for what he did grew worse ; but as fate would have it, he usually didn't keep a lot of food in his room at the warehouse and while there was a small little cubicle to shower in, the water never got much higher than room temperature and the 4 by 4 space just wasn't enough room to move around and properly bathe in. Which brought him to where he was now, just a few days after the world had been saved from the plague, he was silently sneaking into the B&B well past midnight, hoping to avoid banging into the other inhabitants there as he had quickly grown sick of their looks of concern and pity and he if he had to force himself to go through one more forced awkward conversation with any of them he was going to rip his hair out.

Quickly throwing a sandwich together for himself, he ate it silently while skimming trough a textbook on physics that happened to the be laying open on the table, wondering what it was doing there and who it belonged to. As he finished eating, he cleaned up the kitchen and silently started making his way upstairs towards his room here at the B&B, deciding it would be best to wait to shower in the morning as the running water had a tendency to be rather loud here.

As Artie made his way towards his room, he thought he heard something that sounded like a whimper coming from Claudia's room across the hall from his own, so he stopped for a few moments to listen more carefully, but when the sound never repeated Artie assumed he must be hearing things and assumed it must be from how tired he was; sighing, he walked across the hall and entered his room, shutting the door behind him. He dropped his bag down on the nightstand and started changing into more comfortable clothes to sleep in. It was after he was already changed and about to take of his glasses and get into bed when he heard sobbing coming from across the hall.

Artie quickly left his room and headed towards Claudia's room but stopped at her door, nervous about just barging in unannounced like this, but when he heard her cries grow louder and her loud mutters of "No!" and something he couldn't quite make out, his resolution to check on the girl strengthened and he opened the door to make sure she was okay.

Claudia lay in bed thrashing wildly in her sleep, crying soundly and her face was contorted to that of one of fear and worry. Artie rushed over to her and sat on the edge of the bed, placing his hands on her shoulders, and trying to gently shake her awake.

"Claudia? Can you hear me? Wake up kiddo! It's just a dream."

Claudia jerked awake and shot upright, a look of terror on her face as she breathed in fast gasping breaths. "Artie!" she cried, flinging herself into his arms and burying her face in his shoulder.

"It's okay" Artie said gently, rubbing her back in a soothing circular motion "It was just a dream. It's all over now."

"No" Claudia mumbled as her sleepiness wore off. "It's not okay" she said as she pulled away from his reach and scooted to the far side of the bed sitting haphazardly close to the edge of the bed.

"Claudia…" Artie said gently, trying to move closer to her

"Don't!" she tried to say forcefully but it ended up sounding like a plea. "I don't deserve your comfort, not after everything I did to you…" she trailed off staring at her hands, wondering if she'd be able to get past him and out the door.

"What could you have possibly…"

"I stabbed you with a knife! I stabbed you right in the chest and almost killed you! And then when you did everything you could to make me leave you alone, to let you be, I was too selfish to let you go and I forced you to come back!" Tears began flowing down her face.

"Oh Kiddo…" Artie breathed, suddenly realizing what an idiot he had been; of course the poor girl would feel guilty over stabbing someone; it had probably been her first time actually attacking someone like that. And then after she saved his life, he shut her out, so absorbed in his own self-loathing that he was blind to the pain he was putting her through.

"Come here" he said gently. "Please?" he begged when she didn't budge; Claudia gave him a dejected glance before sighing and shifting close enough for Artie to pull her into another embrace and hold her against him. "I'm so sorry I put you through all of that"

"You didn…" but Artie held up a hand to cut her off.

"Let me speak alright, kiddo?" and when she nodded, he continued. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that pain because of me, but more importantly, I'm sorry that you had to go through it alone – I should have been here for you; I should have made sure you know that you really did the right thing, and how grateful I am for it. Yes I was upset when you first brought me back; I hated myself, I didn't want to face what I had done, but you know what? It's better I face this and get over it than leaving you and knowing that you would always blame yourself for a death that was not your fault."

"But Artie, I STABBED you!" Claudia protested, her voice stronger but still drenched in sorrow.

"No!" Artie said, pulling her back to stare sternly into her eyes. "You listen to me, ok? As far as I'm concerned you stabbed the evil essence the artifact; if I had been normal, you never would have hurt me, we both know that – **everyone** in the warehouse knows that! Please, PLEASE, don't let this tear you apart kiddo, I don't want that!" he pulled her back to him, burying his face in her hair.

"You…you don't blame me?" Claudia asked, her voice stronger and hopeful.

"Not for a moment!" and the old agent heaved a sigh of relief as he could feel the young woman relax in his arms. He slowly leaned back against the pillows as both of them relaxed, content with just lying there in each other's arms, the peaceful saying what words could not.


End file.
